WW2 Tours of London

Check London Walks:

https://www.walks.com/

It took me multiple trips to the Imperial War Museum to see the whole thing, and it seems to have new special exhibitions every year, generally small but always interesting to me. I'd suggest taking a look at the museum website to see what the current options are so you can figure out how to attack the place and how much time to allow. It is not just a building displaying war materiel (which wouldn't interest me at all).

I'm sure the Churchill War Rooms are on your list. That's a ticket to buy in advance, because the ticket line is sometimes very long, and if you arrived empty-handed in the afternoon, you might not even get in that day. The war rooms section of the CWR isn't very large and doesn't take long to see. Conditions are very crowded, so I'd just use the audio guide there. I don't even know that they allow guided tours. The Churchill Museum section of the sight is the part that can take a lot of time, if you want to read all the explanatory material. All told, I was there for at least half a day and could have stayed longer in the CM section.

I love London Walks. One that I've taken was on the Blitz, which was interesting for its perspective on what life was like in London during the war. There may be other walks also related to WWII. In addition, there may be a specialty tour company in London doing deeper dives into the subject of the war. You might start by checking out Get Your Guide. It's a third-party company (like Viator) aggregating tours offered by many individuals and small companies. I've never used GYG or Viator, but when looking for special-interest tours, I think they're worth checking out. If you find something useful, you can try to make direct contact with the provider so all your payment goes to the tour guide/company. On Viator, look for the "Additional Info" section and then click on "See x More" to find the name of the company operating the tour you're interested in.

I've done both the Blitz tour that acraven mentions and the Westminster at War tour (twice actually) with London Walks. They were both excellent and I learned a lot. The Westminster at War used to end near the Churchill War Rooms but there was not really time to visit after the walk. I'd definitely book that for another time as they are very powerful.

After years of visiting London I finally got myself out to Bletchley Park for a day trip last spring and it was really, really good. It depends on how many days you have and what else is on your agenda but if you are looking for a WWII related day trip, this is high on my list.

Thanks so much for the help and suggestions!

How far in advance must one usually reserve walk tickets? I hate to get tied down to a specific day/time long before the trip, or is that the only way to do it these days? The only walk we've been on was in York 23 years ago, and we just signed up the day of.

I would be surprised if there was a problem reserving the night before the walk. It was only during the pandemic that London Walks started the reservation process. Unless something has changed recently, you do not pay until you show up for the walk. Guides can process credit cards.

I confess that I have just shown up for the last two or three walks I've taken, because I wanted to see what the weather was like and where I was in my day's sightseeing plans before committing. There has not been a problem doing that, but I arrive with the knowledge that I may theoretically not be able to take the tour; I'd guess that could happen if an unusually large number of people show up.

If a specific tour is really important to a visitor and isn't offered often--as might be the case with WWII-related tours Daphne would be interested in--I'd definitely recommend following the company's request and pre-booking. The further advantage of doing that is I imagine you'd get a message ahead of time if something unexpected caused cancellation of a tour. That's something I've never encountered or heard of, but I suppose it could occur.

Again, agreeing with acraven. I’ll add that for a special walk they offered last May Walking the coronation route I did book ahead and it might have been required. I noticed it was selling out in the weeks ahead of when I wanted to do it so I booked. I paid at the beginning of the walk which had enough people they split into 2 groups. Each guide had a handheld CC machine as well. I’m sure with the pre-booking on this one they were able to meet demand.

If anyone is doing a walk, look for ones given by Tom Hooper who is an RS guide! He’s a former barrister as well. And very knowledgeable!

The ability for the company to plan for an unusually large group and provide two guides is a very good reason to book ahead of time if you can.

Thank you!

In London is a museum in this regard devoted to guns, ie artillery, lots of it. If you're pursuing these WW2 military visits, I heartily suggest the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset.

Take the train from London Waterloo to Wool, a direct shot, then a taxi waiting there takes you to the Museum's front entrance.

Be sure to sed the American Chapel in the back of St. Paul's. It is dedicated to all the Americans who were based in UK during WWII and were killed in action. Very impressive. Paid for by UK citizens as a thank you to us. Stained glass windows by Chagall I seem to remember and each state is represented and there is a Book of the Dead where names of the dead are written.

I haven't seen this yet, but picked it up from this forum. I am planning to do in September so just passing along the info:
The Battle of Britain Bunker https://battleofbritainbunker.co.uk/